Barrington gets ‘it’ done at Palatine
Barrington got after it at the 81st annual Palatine Relays Saturday.
The “it” in question was the shiny red and gold first-place team trophy that has eluded the Broncos since 2006.
But with a rebuilt sprint corps led by sophomore Scotty Miller and a balanced distance group led by another sophomore, Konrad Eiring, the Broncos succeeded in getting “it.”
The Broncos totaled 122 points to down defending meet champion Fremd (112). The host Pirates finished third (89).
“We told the kids all along that we wanted to come to the Palatine Relays and put our best foot forward and see what happened,” said Barrington coach Todd Kuklinski. “The kids did a great job and ran really well.”
Miller, in his first Palatine Relays, showed that there is plenty to be excited about in the sprinting events for the Broncos in the future. Miller took home top honors in the 100 (11.5) and the 200 (23.08). Miller also teamed with Ray Tolentino, Terrance McGovern, and Parker Deloye on a second-place finish in the 400 relay (43.70).
With the two wins and a second-place finish, Miller was awarded the G.A. McElroy award as the top male athlete in the meet.
“Guys like Scotty and Konrad and Parker really helped lead the way for us today,” Kuklinski said. “Add in David Cerney and the guys in the jumps and it was a total team effort for us.”
Cerney ran second in the 800 to Jacobs senior Nick Matysek (1:57.13).
Eiring also earned a pair of second-place finishes, running second to Christian Zambrano of Palatine in the 1,600, and finishing in 4:30.66 to 4:25.17 for Zambrano in the 400. Eiring’s fastest effort came in the 400 dash, where he busted off a season-best 50.86. That was also good enough for second, because Grayslake North junior Alex Shulga busted out one of the top performances of the day.
Shulga took the race out at a steady pace and ran away from the field to win in 49.14. That time ties Shulga with Sam Bransby of Naperville Central for the fastest time in Illinois so far this spring.
“I saw the guys I was racing against and I got kind of scared, but I knew I really wanted to race with them,” Shulga said. “At the end, I just went out and took the race.”
The only other relay win for the Broncos came in the high jump relay. Deloye had the best leap of the day, clearing 6-feet-7. He was joined by teammates Jacob Hallstrom and Dan Stermer for the event win.
Fremd unveiled its sprint relays and finished the meet with a bang in taking the 1,600 relay. The Vikings team of Jawan Gaines, Garret Groot, Joshua Yamamoto, and Derrick Gaines ran a season-best 3:25.11 for the win.
Kyle Lewis, Jake Lewis, and Darius Burchette joined Jawan Gaines to take the 400 relay in a season-best effort of 43.49.
Fremd also earned top honors in the pole vault relay led by Tom Mayer, Pawel Klimek, and Casey Wood. One of the other top efforts from the Vikings came in the 300 hurdles, where junior Matt Konopka polished off a season best effort with a second-place finish in 39.72.
The host Pirates looked strong again in the distance events, starting with the 3,200 relay. The team of Andrew Clingerman, Rob Hank, Christian Zambrano and Zach Stella cruised to a win in 8:08.65.
Zambrano later came back to take the 1,600 with an outstanding last 800 meters. He pulled away from the field to win in 4:25.17.
Another win this time came in the field events where the Pirates put together their best shot put session of the season, winning the event with a combined toss of 140-10.5. Senior Brad Walls had the best throw of the afternoon (49-10.5). Ken Cervenka and Josh Baldus made up the winning group.
The Pirates closed out the sun-splashed afternoon by winning the triple jump relay. Senior Cam Kuksa had the best jump of the group, leaping a season-best 44-3. Chaka Kelley and Colin Dumphy made up the winning relay for the Pirates.
Huntley captured the discus relay behind one of the best throws in the state this season from senior Justin Herbert. His toss of 162-4 led a combined effort of 420-6. Isaac Jimenez and Chase Burkhart combined for the winning throw.
The Red Raiders’ top performance on the track came in the 800 relay, where Tyler Schwartz, John Walker, Connor Boos, and Mike Dollar ran second in a season-best 1:31.37.